6 months!

I seriously cannot believe how fast the past six months have gone...  I lay awake at night wishing that time would slow down a little because I realize that you will be all grown up in the blink of an eye.  I am so fortunate to be able to spend every day with you because it seems like you are doing something new practically every day!  You are now about 17 pounds and 28.5 inches long.  I was prompted to go through your drawers and take out all of the 3-6 month sizes when I realized that you could no longer straighten your legs in your footed pajamas or in your sleep sack.  This didn't leave much, which meant I got to go on a baby clothes shopping spree!  You are now in 9-12 month clothes to accommodate your long legs!!

Literally the day after writing your 5-month blog, you figured out how to roll from your back to your tummy.  You haven't stopped moving since!  Because of your torticollis, you were only able to roll to your left.  You would roll across your room (or your crib) and eventually hit a wall and get stuck since you weren't able to roll back the other way.  This created a major sleeping issue.  Bedtime (and naptime) became prime time for you to practice your new rolling skills.  However, it would only take a couple of rolls across your crib for you to get stuck on the other side (often with a limb poking through the rungs).  You would get angry and cry and mom or dad would have to come in and rescue you...  This was fun and exciting the first few times ("oh, he's so strong!"), but it quickly lost it's luster after repeating itself numerous times night after night.  Not only did we have to get up and reposition you more times than I can count, but all of your moving and shaking seemed to work up an appetite and you would often need to be fed around 3am.  Add that to the fact that you like getting up at 5am and you had some parents who were majorly sleep deprived!

Luckily, this phase only lasted about 3 weeks (although I think we are now entering the teething phase which is also not helping with your sleep).  Your physical therapy payed off and you now can roll to your right.  You still move all around your crib, but can usually free yourself when you get stuck.  You roll with such gusto that we are now awoken by the sound of your helmet crashing against the sides of your crib.  I'm afraid of what will happen to your poor little head once you're not wearing the helmet!

Speaking of the helmet...  You got your helmet about 3 weeks ago.  You look so cute in it and draw lots of attention where ever we go!  The first week, you gradually worked up to wearing it 23 hours a day.  I have been so amazed by how little it bothers you!  You are such a trooper.  (Your physical therapists and orthotist rave at what a "chill" baby you are).  Your helmet has to be off when we do your stretches and when you bathe, so we usually take it off three times a day for 20 minutes.  These are my favorite times of day because I can kiss your head and snuggle you much more easily.  Don't get me wrong, you are just as adorable with the helmet, but it definitely gets in the way.  It also can be used as a weapon- I'll be surprised if dad and I don't get any teeth knocked out over the next few months!  The good news is that it seems to be working.  You haven't had any measurements taken since you started wearing the helmet, but I can see that your flat spot is already starting to round out.

You have just started to sit up (for very short moments) unsupported.  I think the helmet puts you at a slight disadvantage, though...  However, it does help when you lose your balance (especially when you're on the hardwood floors)!

The advent of the helmet and your ability to roll has brought on another new development this month.  Your preferred sleeping position is now on your face.  Not on your tummy with your head turned to the side, but on your actual face!  The first time we woke up and saw you like this on the monitor it scared us to death!  Dad ran in and shook you awake and you just looked at him like he was crazy.  The first couple of weeks that this happened, whenever I saw you like that, I'd go in and turn you onto your back.  You would flip right back over to your face.  Then I would just lay in my bed watching on the monitor to make sure you didn't suffocate.  (Did I mention that I have been extremely sleep deprived this month).  I asked the nurse who runs our "beyond newborns" class about this and she said that your helmet probably creates a little space so that you're still able to breathe when lying face down.  How convenient!

After devouring your rice cereal for a couple of weeks, I decided that you were probably ready to try some fruits and vegetables.  I started by mixing some pears with your cereal.  You loved it!  Since then, we've tried a new food every few days.  (We would have tried more, but you're supposed to wait a few days between new foods to look for signs of allergies).  So far you've had sweet potatoes, apples, peas, carrots, bananas, and mangoes.  You love to eat and are a pro at it!  You straighten your little arms and legs and squeal with excitement when the spoon is coming.  I actually have to feed you your bottle first to make sure you're still getting enough milk because you seem to prefer food.  A few times when I fed you food first, you cried and arched your back when I tried to give you your bottle...

Since you are doing so well with solid foods, I have slowly started to wean.  My goal was to get to six months, but now that we're here I am feeling sad about stopping.  My "supply" has never been over-abundant and you never took to breastfeeding, but I love knowing that you're still getting all the benefits of breast milk.  I absolutely despise pumping, though, and it's getting harder to entertain you while I'm pumping.  I've gone from six pumping sessions a day to five and I already feel like it's freed up some time in my day.  I can't imagine how it will feel to be completely done...

We've been soaking up the last weeks of summer!  You have a new big boy (aka jogging) stroller so you can look out at the world while we're on our walks.  The only problem is that I can't see you as well (you faced me in your other stroller) and I have to stop every so often to look at you.

You and Christopher hanging out after one of our many walks around Lake Harriet.

We have gone to the park a couple of times and you even got to try out the swing!

We also spent a glorious summer day at the Landscape Arboretum.

I am amazed by how much you've changed (and how much our lives have changed) over the past 6 months and I wouldn't change it for the world!  We love you so much!

Happy six months peanut!
Love, Mom

5 months!

You are growing up so fast my darling!  You're about 16.5 pounds and 27 inches long.  At your 4 month well-visit you were in the 42nd percentile for weight and the 83rd percentile for height.  Not only are you growing bigger, this has been a huge month for you developmentally!  About a week after your 4 month birthday you started rolling from tummy to back.  I was reading you a story during tummy time when, all of a sudden, you rolled to your side.  A few seconds later, you rolled all the way to your back.  I immediately put you back onto your tummy as I got the camera ready to capture this milestone.  Well, you were too fast for me- within seconds you had rolled onto your back again.  This time I got the camera ready before I put you back on your tummy:

We repeated this about five times and then you took a two hour nap!  Yes, TWO HOURS!!  I think you were so preoccupied with trying to master the roll that you couldn't sleep.  You've been napping much better ever since.  Phew!  You haven't quite mastered the back to tummy roll, although I'm sure you could...  As soon as you get close, you seem to realize what's about to happen and you quickly rotate to your back again.  You are a smart boy!  Speaking of which, you just roll over now when you're sick of tummy time (which is often just a few seconds in).

Back to the subject of sleep...  Your bedtime has been getting earlier and earlier over the past couple of months.  How did we know to put you to bed earlier you ask?  Well, you have developed an ear piercing scream to let us know, not so subtly, that you are hungry or tired.  Daddy and I noticed that "the scream" was becoming very common around 7pm...  We knew you were tired, but we had gotten used to giving you your last bottle around 8 or 9pm.  For about a week, we would keep you up until it was time for that last bottle.  We didn't understand what you were trying to tell us until you started refusing that feeding (sorry we're still new to this whole parenting thing).   Anyway, we finally put two and two together and have eliminated the last feeding.  Now you go to bed around 7pm and usually sleep until 6am.  I thought for sure that you would wake up in the middle of the night starving, but you haven't.  However, at least a couple times a week, you're ready for the day 4 or 5am.  I think you are going to be an early bird like your daddy!  (Mommy has been relying heavily on caffeine).

Since you were born, everyone has said how much you look like your daddy.  Just in the past week, however, I've had several people tell me that you look just like me!  Maybe it's because of your light hair...  Your eyes are still a dark bluish-grey color, but they're getting some specks of golden brown.  It will be interesting to see if they turn brown over the next month (supposedly they'll stay whatever color they are at 6 months).

Another big event this month was your first foray into solid foods.   We got the go-ahead from your doctor, so we gave rice cereal a try and you loved it!  You got the hang of it after only a few bites.  The trickiest part is trying to keep the spoon away from you.  You try to feed yourself, but don't have the best aim yet...  We're just sticking with rice cereal for now to practice, but I'm excited to make you some fruits and vegetables.  Does anyone have any advice on introducing solids or any good baby food recipes to share?

As I mentioned in the previous post, you were diagnosed with torticollis and plagiocephaly this month.  This has been really hard on dad and I because we hate to see you in pain, but the stretches are getting easier every day.  Your physical therapist thought your neck seemed to be improving already, so it's paying off!  Next week, you will get a cranial remolding helmet to correct the plagiocephaly.  The specialist thinks you'll have to wear it for about 4-6 months...  I'm praying that it's not too uncomfortable and that you adjust to it quickly.

Finally, the absolute best thing happened this month...  you started laughing!!  Your first laugh was at me, well sort-of...  We were on our way home from your great-grandma's and I was riding in the back seat with you because you were not too thrilled with the long car ride.  As we pulled into our bumpy driveway both of our heads jerked around.  Apparently, you thought this was hilarious!  Your laugh is the cutest thing I've ever heard!  Over the past few weeks daddy and I have tried everything we can think of to make you laugh again.  We've finally realized that the only way to make you laugh is to jostle you around- I guess you like physical comedy...

Happy five months peanut!
Love, Mom

Everybody Has Their Something

I wouldn't say it has been completely smooth sailing since Jackson's birth, but we have been extremely lucky!  Jackson is a very mellow little guy who has been sleeping through the night since he was about 2 months old and he has been extremely healthy (minus our little scare in the week leading up to his birth and his first day of life).  In my mama classes they always say, "everybody has their something."  Meaning no baby is perfect- silly me in thinking that Jackson was the exception.

It all started at Jackson's 4-month well visit.  Jackson had developed a flat spot on the back left side of his head.  I read that this has become more common since the advent of back sleeping and that it typically goes away once the baby is able to roll over and sit up, so I wasn't too worried.  However, I started to incorporate different activities throughout the day to help, such as rotating his sleep position and increasing his tummy time, but the flatness seemed to be getting worse.

I asked the doctor if his head shape seemed out of the ordinary and she checked it out.  The first question she asked me was if he always tilted his head to his left.  He had seen a different doctor at his 2-month well visit and she asked the same thing, but then said nevermind...  That question had been nagging at me since, but I just figured I was worrying over nothing (as I tend to do).  As soon as I heard that question again, I knew something was up.  I told her that I guess he did have a tendency to tilt his head that way.  (Of course, I started blaming myself immediately for not bringing him in sooner).  She thought the head tilt could be related to the flatness and she referred us to a physical therapist for further evaluation.

When I got home I looked at the hundreds of pictures I've taken of Jackson and saw, very clearly, that he definitely tends to tilt his head...  I guess I just thought it was a cute little quirk of his.  I mean, come on, who would think there was anything wrong with this adorable little face:

Last Thursday we had our first appointment.  Jackson's therapist evaluated him from all different angles and positions and she measured his head with a caliper-like devise.  She said he has torticollis and plagiocephaly.  In regular language this means that the muscles in the left side of his neck are shorter than on the right side of his neck.  (Which she thought was most likely caused by how he was positioned in the womb).  This makes it difficult for him to turn his head to the right, especially when he sleeps.  Torticollis often leads to plagiocephaly (which is the flattening of the back/side of one's head).  Since infant's skulls are soft and moldable, if they are in the same position for too long (like on their back sleeping) their skull can re-shape.

Next, the physical therapist took Jackson through a series of strengthening exercises.  I could tell he wasn't super thrilled with all she was having him do, but he held it together....  at least for a little while longer.  The stretching exercises were done last (and now I know why).  He immediately started crying screaming.  She assured me that the stretches don't hurt, but that babies just aren't used to how it feels.  Hmmmm....  I wasn't buying it.  Watching him go through that was even worse than watching him get his shots.  Then, I was told that I would have to do this 2-3 times 3-4 times a day at home!  Now I was about to cry.

Finally, I got the worst news of the day.  Jackson would most likely need a helmet in order to correct his head shape.  Since this wasn't discovered earlier, even once the torticollis is resolved, his head probably won't reshape itself.  It's mostly a cosmetic thing, but in some cases the ears may become misaligned, which can lead to vision, balance, and TMJ issues later in life.  Now it took everything I had not to cry, especially when she informed me that these helmets must be worn 23 hours a day and that he'd probably have to wear one for several months!  I realize there are much worse things that can happen, but it was really hard to hear.

I fought back tears all the way home and kept telling myself that everything would be fine.  A few hours later, I had worked up the courage to try the stretches.  He immediately started screaming and I was only able to hold the stretch for 7 seconds (I'm supposed to hold it for 30).  At this point, I had completely lost it.  There is nothing worse than having to do something that causes your child pain.  Plus, I was feeling extremely guilty about not catching it sooner or asking more questions at his 2-month appointment.  I also couldn't help but wonder if doing more tummy time would have helped.

Over the past few days the stretches have gotten less painful (for both of us).  He does much better when I distract him with my beautiful singing voice (if there was a sarcasm font I would have used it there).  I have also gotten less freaked out by the whole helmet idea, especially after chatting with another mom whose son also had to wear a helmet.  Thank you Melissa!  She even pointed out how helpful it was to have a helmet during the rolling over, sitting up, and learning to crawl phase.  (If Jackson is anything like John and I, a little extra head protection will be a very good thing).

We have an appointment with an orthotist next week, who will fit Jackson for the helmet (and make sure that he's even a candidate).  We are also scheduled to meet with the physical therapist every other week, through September, to help correct his torticollis.  She'll give us different stretches to do at home as he gets stronger.

Despite all of this, Jackson is just as happy as ever and has even started laughing (it's the best sound in the world)!!!  He's only done it three times so far, even though John and I have tried EVERYTHING to get him to laugh.  Apparently, he doesn't find us all that amusing.  We have yet to capture his elusive laugh on video, so this picture will have to do...

4 months!

 

You are four months now, my not-so-little peanut!  As you can see from the video above, you are developing quite the little personality!!  You are about 15 pounds and 25.5 inches long- we can't wait for your doctor's appointment next week to get your exact measurements.  You've definitely caught up!!  You are getting stronger every day.  You really like sitting in your Bumbo and love your new exersaucer.  Although tummy time is still not your favorite activity, you are tolerating it much better and it's paying off.  I think you will be rolling over in no time!

You sleep about 10 hours at night (from about 8-6)- hallelujah!  Naps are a different story, however.  Mommy has been working hard to establish a nap-time routine/schedule, but no matter what you hardly ever sleep for longer than 30 minutes or so...  You also are becoming much more aware of your surroundings and get upset if mommy is not in your sight.  As a result, I haven't been getting much done during the day, except for taking care of you (which is much more fun than housework).

You have started to explore your voice and make all kinds of little shrieking and cooing noises- we've even heard a few giggles.  Other favorite past-times of yours are blowing bubbles and sucking on your hands...  Does this mean you're going to get teeth soon?

You and KG are becoming good friends.  You love to watch him chase after his ball and he often brings it to you to throw (we keep telling him that it will be a little while before you're able to do that, but he keeps trying anyway).

We are in the midst of summer and you are thoroughly enjoying it- you LOVE being outside.  We go for walks everyday that the weather allows- often twice a day.  Lake Harriet is our favorite.

 

You at Lake Harriet with our post-walk refreshments (milk for you and hibiscus punch for me).

We've found lots of other ways to enjoy the summer weather, too.  A few weeks ago we went to Minnehaha Falls with your friend Christopher.

 

You like to spend time out on our patio...

and on the 4th of July, you went to your first parade!

You've also met several more family members over the past month.  A couple of weeks ago you got to meet your daddy's cousin's kids:

 Noah, you, Nealie (who was born just 10 days after you), and Maranda

you and Benjamin (who was visiting from California)

 

Finally, Daddy celebrated his very first Father's Day!  We had a pretty relaxing day and then went out for a sushi dinner with your Grandma and Grandpa White.  Mom and dad were a little worried about bringing you to the restaurant, but you slept most of the time and when you woke up you enjoyed looking around.  Whew!

Your daddy is an amazing man and loves you so much.  His eyes light up every day when he gets home from work and sees your sweet little face.  I see so much of him in you already.  You are both early birds, so you have your "guy time" Saturday and Sunday mornings (while mommy and KG sleep in).  I usually find you two cuddling on the couch downstairs watching movies.  I've also heard daddy singing to you several times and even caught it on camera.  It is the cutest/funniest thing I've ever seen for two reasons.  First, daddy is a little completely tone deaf, so it's almost impossible to recognize what he's singing.  This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the second reason...  He doesn't know the words to most songs, so he just makes them up as he goes along!  I would post the video here, but daddy made me swear on my life to never show anyone...  (Although, I'm sure we'll show it to you when you're a little older and have a good laugh).

Happy four months peanut!

Love, Mom

Quick and Healthy Snack Ideas

In an effort to be more healthy and lose those last few, ahem...ten...ahem, pounds of baby weight, I've been working on cutting back on processed foods.  (In case you were wondering I decided to stop blogging about my weight loss adventures because it's boring to write about and probably even more boring to read about).  This week I tried two different quick, easy, and very healthy snack recipes.

The first one was baked kale chips.  Gwyneth Paltrow made some on the Today show last week and I was intrigued!  I couldn't find her exact recipe, but used this one (which seemed very close to hers).  They taste like potato chips (almost)!  My husband and I ate the whole batch in one night!  (I don't recommend this, however, because I did get a bit of a stomach ache from all that kale.  Apparently, there can be too much of a good thing!)  Here's the recipe:

Baked Kale Chips

(We were so excited to try this recipe that I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like prepared...)
Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Preparation:

• preheat oven to 350 degrees
• with a knife or kitchen shears remove the leaves from the thick center stems and tear into bite size pieces
• wash and dry kale with a salad spinner
• drizzle kale with olive oil and add salt
• bake until the edges brown (but not burnt), 10-15 minutes

Enjoy!

I found the next recipe in Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method.  I bought the book on clearance (for $4!!) at Target.  I love her post-pregnancy workout DVD, so I thought I'd check the book out.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat as little or exercise as much as her "method" suggests (especially while breastfeeding and taking care of a 3 month old).  However, the recipes included in her book are pretty simple and extremely healthy.  I will definitely be trying more of them!  Here is my adapted version of her recipe:

Cucumber Mint Relish

Ingredients:

• 2 mini-cucumbers, chopped
• 1 cup mukimame, thawed
• 4 tablespoons coconut water
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh mint

Preparation:

• toss all ingredients together (it doesn't get much easier than that!)

As you can probably tell from my picture above, I forgot the mint.  (Hey, grocery shopping with an infant is not easy)!  It was still really good without it, but I'm excited to make it again WITH mint since it seems to be a pretty key ingredient...

The Perfect Greige

Item number one on our summer "to do" list- painting our house and garage.  While we have a small, perfectly rectangular house, it didn't take us very long to decide that we'd be hiring someone "to do" this job for us.  With John's new job and a 3 month old baby there is very little free time to be had.  The job would have taken us months!

The painters were scheduled to start in mid-July but, much to our surprise, they called late last week and said they were running ahead of schedule and could start on Monday!  My excitement quickly turned to panic when I realized that this meant we'd only have the weekend to choose our colors.  (John panicked because that meant he only had the weekend to take down all the window boxes, windows, and other various things that were attached to our house).  I spent the better part of Saturday (in between feeding, pumping, changing diapers, etc...) poring over the deck of thousands of colors.  Then, I discovered an amazing tool that brought my obsession to a new level.  The Sherwin Williams color visualizer.  It allows you to upload a picture of your house and then, with the click of the mouse, you can see what different color schemes would look like.  How cool is that!!

I knew I wanted a blue door and John was set on white trim, so that just left the main wall color...  I thought that it made sense to choose the door color first and then pick coordinating neutrals for the rest of the house.  John thought that this was a crazy idea, he wanted to choose the house color and paint the door later.  (We tend to have opposing view points on all things house related).  After much debate, I gave in realized that John was probably right and we were able to narrow down our choices to three- grey area, the perfect greige, and ramie.  (All, of which, I think will match whichever shade of blue we decide on).

Meet the contenders:

Grey Area

The Perfect Greige

 

Ramie

Today, the painters painted an area of each on three sides of our house and the garage.  We had been almost completely set on "the perfect greige," but it turns out it's not-so-perfect (at least not on our house).  It is our least favorite of the three because it seems to have a pinkish hue, which isn't the look we're going for (plus it clashes with our roof).  My neurotic side wanted to see a few of the colors we ruled out since they look totally different on the house than on a little 2 inch sample or on a computer screen...  Ugh!  However, John pointed out that since we both liked ramie the best, we should just go with that.  Why does he always have to make things so simple?!  Fortunately, I was able to recognize this as a great decision and decided against arguing about it, even though I got less that 5 hours of sleep last night.  Usually, that would be a recipe for disaster!  Maybe motherhood is making me wiser (or just too tired to fight).

After hours of playing around with the visualizer, I also decided to paint the window boxes brown.

Meet our potential colors:

Ramie (main house color)

Turkish Coffee (window boxes)

Drizzle (front door)

Hmmmm...  that scheme looks really familiar.  It totally reminds me of the colors we have going on in our living room.  At least my taste is consistent!  I think it has a warm and cozy (and slightly modern) vibe, but what do I know.  Nevertheless, I'm really excited to see the finished product.  Hopefully, it won't take us too long to find time to paint the window boxes and put them back up.  I'm so excited to finally plant in them- now I just need to figure out what kind of flowers will go best with our new color scheme (too bad there isn't a "visualizer" for that!  Maybe I should invent it...).

Finally, on a more serious note, we found out that there is lead in our current exterior paint.  I guess this shouldn't be a surprise being that our house was built in 1952, but it was something that we hadn't thought about.  Thankfully, the company that we went with is certified and trained in how to deal with it and also gave us a bunch of guidelines to follow so that we don't get any particles in our house.  (Unfortunately, this will increase the cost of the job).  I, of course, had to google "lead paint and babies" and totally freaked myself out, but they assured us that there will be no harm done.  Had we decided to do the job ourselves, we probably wouldn't have known about the lead- this could have been very dangerous for little Jackson!  Thank God we're lazy!

Stay tuned for before and after pictures...

3 months!

Another month has flown by and boy were we busy!  You have lived up to your nickname "Action Jackson" because you love to be on the go...  Overall, you are an extremely content little baby, but if we sit still or stay in the house for too long you get a little cranky (so does mommy, so we're a perfect fit).

You are now about 13.5 pounds and 24 inches long.  At your 2 month check-up you were in the 50th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height (quite a difference from the 5th percentile when you were born)!  You are sleeping like a champ- usually from about 9 or 10 at night to 6 or 7 in the morning.  A couple of weeks ago we started to put you in your crib to sleep.  I think you like it, but you often wiggle yourself from one end of the crib to the other over the course of the night.  Mom is working on getting some sort of nap schedule in place, but you don't really like naps (unless you're getting a ride in your stroller or in the car or if you're snuggled up with mommy or daddy)...

You and daddy and KG napping in the guest room on a Sunday afternoon.

You are smiling more and more every day and have even squealed a few times- I can't wait to hear you laugh.  You are especially happy in the morning and you always give daddy a smile when he gets home from work.

You are mesmerized by your hands and stare at them constantly as you move them around...  It's pretty funny to watch.  You have also started to notice your toys more- you love to hold onto the toys that hang from your car seat (and try to put them in your mouth).

Tummy time is still not your favorite activity, so we bought a Bumbo for you.  You were not a fan at first, but it's growing on you...  I even caught you smiling in it the other day!

You still love your activity mat, but only when you're laying on your back.  You especially love laying on it and dancing!

Mommy "graduated" from her new mama class, but (don't worry) we'll get to see all of your girlfriends again when we start "beyond newborns" next week.  Here's a picture of you with your friends on the last day of class:

Here are some of the other things we did this month...

You attended your first Twin's game.  You loved taking in the sights from your ergo carrier (mommy and daddy took turns carrying you).

You weren't too interested in what was happening on the field (I don't blame you- they're not doing very well this year).

We only lasted in our seats for about 3 innings, but that was mostly because mommy was afraid a fly ball was going to hit you in the head...  I think next time mommy and daddy go to a game we'll leave you with grandma.

Daddy had a couple of days off last week (before he started his new job), so we brought you downtown to the Farmer's Market and to the Smack Shack.

We'll have to bring you back there when you can chew because their lobster rolls were amazing!  You took a nap while we strolled around the farmer's market and were kind enough to hold mommy's flowers.

Last, but not least, I got to celebrate my very first mother's day this month!  We had both of your grandmas over for brunch (along with your uncle Sam and aunt Nicole).  Then, for dinner, you, daddy, and I went out for sushi- mommy even had a martini!  It was a perfect day, and not because of the martini, but because I am so lucky to be your mom!

Happy three months peanut!
Love, Mom